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Photo of Valley
Forge National Historic Park by James Lemass

Tort Reform:
Was Bush Wrong to Say It Would Benefit the Economy?

The Left Says:

"Arguing
that his economic policies consist of more than tax cuts geared
to the wealthy, President Bush maintained last week in his year-end
press conference that tort reform is a key part of his 'pro-growth'
agenda, saying that it, 'would have made a difference' to benefit
the economy. Earlier this year, the president went further, saying
that the proliferation of medical malpractice lawsuits are 'a
national problem that needs a national solution.' But a recent
study by the National Center for State Courts found that medical
malpractice lawsuits per capita actually decreased in the most
recent ten-year period examined."

The President
is correct to believe tort reform "would have made a difference"
to the economy.

The cost of the U.S.
tort system has increased one-hundred fold over the last 50 years,
while GDP has grown by a factor of only 34.(1)

Medical malpractice lawsuits
are but part of cost of excessive lawsuits, and the number of
malpractice lawsuits per capita tells but a small part of the
medical liability story. Often the mere possibility of a lawsuit
being filed causes a potential defendant to settle.

Doctors and lawyers,
corporations and consumers, insurance companies and public officials
may never agree 100 percent on the proper resolution of the tort
crisis, but all should be able to agree that excessive lawsuits
have significant costs.

Sources:

(1) U.S. Tort Costs: 2002 Update, Tillinghast-Towers Perrin,
as cited by the Business Council of New York State

(3) As cited
by Donald J. Palmissano, M.D., J.D., representing the American
Medical Association in testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, Committee
on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., June 12, 2002.

(4) "Do
Doctors Practice Defensive Medicine?" Quarterly Journal
of Economics, 1996, as cited by sickoflawsuits.org, available
at http://www.sickoflawsuits.org/press/epidemic.cfmas of December
31, 2003.

(5) "Addressing
the New Health Care Crisis: Reforming the Medical Litigation
System to Improve the Quality of Health Care," U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2003,
as cited by sickoflawsuits.org.